This week saw the return of Nigel and Carol who had fished Lac Lucie the last two years and had a total of three carp out in these previous visits. They had not given up though and with the addition of a new bait boat bought on their return home last year they were hoping for a better result this year.
We had been contacted the week before they came for a weather update so that they packed sensibly and we were sorry to have to inform them that the forecast was for rain the whole week but they were not deterred and came prepared and Maisie was pleased to see them again no matter the weather.
They started the week with determination and although they were not fishing nights they were down by the lake by 7am most mornings and broke for tea and then were back with their rods out until about 9pm when they packed up and had some time in the hot tub with a glass of something watching the stars and the Milky Way (when it wasn’t raining)
The first fish of the week was landed by 10am on the Sunday morning, a lovely 42lb 7oz common caught by Nigel, and a new PB for him. This was closely followed by a new PB for Carol, a 38lb 8oz mirror. Nigel had two more out before the day was done meaning that they had already caught more fish than they had in the last two years put together! And the sun came out for a while in the evening allowing them to dry off a bit.
On Monday they woke again to rain but with wet weather gear on and the bivvy set up to shelter in their spirits were high. Nigel had a further two fish over the day, a 27lb 4oz mirror and a 29lb 12oz common.
The day was mostly dry on Tuesday with a few showers here and there and we had a message through in the afternoon asking for Nigel to go and help out. When we got down there Carol was just having a photo taken with a 27lb 8oz mirror and Nigel also had a fish on. His fish was very active though and had zig zagged across the lake and back and wiped out four out of the five rods that were still in the water. Birds nests of line everywhere. With our Nigel’s help and a bit of untangling, they managed to land the fish, a 36lb 8oz mirror. This was photographed (with Maisie photobombing) and returned to the water and then they untangled the rest of the lines. Luckily only one rod was total mess and had to be started again with some new line.
They both managed another fish that evening making it Nigel with seven and Carol with three carp after three days of fishing and halfway through the week.
Over the week we spent several pleasant hours with Nigel and Carol, with a beer and glass of wine or two and thoroughly enjoyed their company and sense of humour. Both do a lot of fishing in the UK, mainly sea fishing in the south-west and have lots of great stories to tell. They also introduced us to a great Aussie singer called Kevin B****y Wilson who has a great song called Nigel F*****g Legend. A tribute to both Nigels this week.
And the second half of the week continued in much the same vein. On Wednesday the couple had six runs and managed to lose five of them but Carol managed to land a 29lb 7oz mirror. It rained heavily for most of the day on Thursday and water was pouring into the lake from the stream and the overflows were working well. It was a great day for the fish though as Nigel managed to land another four carp, a 38lb 2oz common, a 38lb 8oz mirror, a 33lb 6oz common and a 21lb 8oz mirror. Carol also had a new PB, a 44lb 10oz mirror as well as a 34lb 12oz common.
And Friday came around far too soon, but managed to stay dry for most of the day. The couple fished until tea time and landed a further three carp, Nigel with an 18lb 2oz common and Carol with a 34lb 4oz common and a 28lb 5oz mirror.
With 20 carp on the bank between them (Nigel having 13 and Carol 7) they are above the average catch rates for a week and with so much rain it is commendable that they stuck it out for such lengths of time.
On the final evening Carol presented us with a little ditty she wrote, which we thought we would share with you. Enjoy!
So final catch summary is zero babies (even though Carol was desperate to catch little Matty), 1 at 10lb+, 9 at 20lb+, 8 at 30lb+ and 2 at 40lb+. We will look forward to seeing them again next year so until next time à bientôt….
